Chapter 34.3: Taking on an Impossible Challenge
Hearing these two voices, Zhou Sichen immediately took their bets. The other students had bet a total of around two thousand gold soul coins, yet Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao alone had just equalled that. In other words, he wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket if Huo Yuhao lost. On the whole, a crisis had been averted.
“We’ll bet fifty gold soul coins on Huo Yuhao.” Two crisp voices rang out simultaneously, jolting Zhou Sichen. There were actually still more people who dared to bet on Huo Yuhao. After looking carefully, he realised that the two people betting on Huo Yuhao were actually the Lan sisters.
The sisters smiled at Wang Dong, then took out a total of fifty gold soul coins.
“I’ll bet fifty as well.” Another voice rang out. This time, Zhou Sichen was somewhat flabbergasted. The person who’d placed a bet this time was actually his good brother, Cao Jinxuan. During their match with Huo Yuhao’s team, Cai Jinxuan hadn’t even been able to even release a soul skill before he’d been knocked out by Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’s combined Spiritual Shock.
“Jinxuan, what’re you doing?” Zhou Sichen asked suspiciously.
Cao Jinxuan smiled cunningly. “I know that a fella like you has a lot of money; why can’t I bet on an unknown gamble?”
Still somewhat suspicious, Zhou Sichen replied, “That can’t be right. You’ve never done something that doesn’t profit you, nor have you done something that you’re unsure of.”
Cao Jinxuan replied in an easy-going manner, “That’s not your problem. Besides, I’m only betting fifty gold soul coins. That isn’t too cruel. However, let me remind you: If Huo Yuhao does win, you’ll go bankrupt. With odds of 1 to 10, you’ll have to pay out twenty one thousand gold soul coins for these two thousand one hundred gold soul coins. Do you even have that much money?”
“Uh…” Cold sweat immediately began to drip off of Zhou Sichen’s face when he heard Cao Jinxuan. Right! In the extremely unlikely chance that Huo Yuhao managed to win, what would he do? Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao had each bet one thousand gold soul coins! That, multiplied by ten, was an astronomical figure to him!
“Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, can you guys lower your bets a bit?” Zhou Sichen had previously hoped that Huo Yuhao would cause an upset. However, his current attitude had completely flipped around.
Wang Dong replied, “You said that you were willing to accept any bets, no matter how high they were. I’m confident in Huo Yuhao, and I’m not afraid of losing. What’re you afraid of?” With that, both he and Xiao Xiao turned around and found a place to sit.
Seeing their backs, Zhou Sichen mumbled unhappily, “Humph, let’s see how you start crying after you lose. It’d be weird if Huo Yuhao really was able to beat Wu Feng with such a large gap between them. Still, I’ve really dug a hole for myself with the odds I’ve set! If I’d known people would make such large bets earlier, I would’ve taken it easier, so as to guarantee that I’d still make a slight profit.”
Cai Jinxuan patted him on the shoulder and replied in a sincere voice, “Being impulsive truly is the devil!”
As the spectating stage continued to buzz with activity, Huo Yuhao and Wu Feng proceeded to enter the Soul Duelling Arena. For the sake of safety, Wang Yan was personally acting as the referee for their match.
After entering the arena, Wang Yan said solemnly, “I’ll once again remind you that this is merely a sparring session between fellow classmates, so although you can go all-out, you absolutely cannot injure your opponent. Do you understand? Once one party gains an upper hand in the match, I’ll stop it immediately.”
Both Huo Yuhao and Wu Feng nodded at the same time. However, Wu Feng said offhandedly, “Teacher Wang, doesn’t that mean that you’ll have to stop the match after only a few seconds?”
After saying that, she turned around and walked towards her side of the arena. Wu Feng hadn’t even turned twelve, yet she’d clearly developed much faster than other girls her age. This was exemplified by her extremely tall figure. Furthermore, her feminine traits were very obvious; this was especially so for her fiery red hair, which had a peculiar beauty to it. Only, her tomboyish personality, which caused her to be even rowdier than boys, was clearly somewhat disharmonious with her beauty.
As Huo Yuhao slowly walked towards the other side of the arena, Wang Yan whispered, “Try your best, but don’t force yourself. Sometimes, patience is a form of strength.”
Huo Yuhao could see how concerned Wang Yan was for him. After nodding to him, he slowly moved backwards. He understood Wang Yan’s good intentions, but he’d already decided not to spare any costs when he fought against Wu Feng. He had no intentions of backing down.
Both sides were quickly separated by a distance of a hundred meters.
Wang Yan stood in the middle of the arena with his arms spread out. After ensuring that both parties had finished making their preparations, he suddenly raised his hands and shouted, “Begin!”
Wu Feng moved instantly. Her red hair fluttered in the wind, resembling a red cloud as she charged towards Huo Yuhao at full speed. Her slender yet forceful legs caused her body to rapidly shoot forwards whenever her feet touched the ground, and in the blink of an eye, she’d already traversed several tens of meters.
As her tender body rushed forward, dragon scales began to cover half of her body. Though they were still a good distance away from each other, yet Huo Yuhao was already able to sense the valiant air coming off of her body.
Surprisingly, Huo Yuhao didn’t move at all. Instead, he simply shut his eyes and stood there, making it seem as if he was meditating while standing up.
The spectator’s stage had become completely silent; everyone’s eyes were currently focused on the Soul Duelling Arena. Naturally, the most attentive students were Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, and Zhou Sichen.
Likewise, Cao Jinxuan was also looking concentratedly at the arena. However, he wasn’t following Wu Feng like many people were. Instead, he’d fixed his eyes on Huo Yuhao, and was observing his every move.
It was just as Zhou Sichen had guessed; Cao Jinxuan placing a bet on Huo Yuhao hadn’t been a moment of impulsiveness, nor had it been because he was trying to obtain a large profit. Rather, he had his own motives for doing so.
The true core of Zhou Sichen’s team was actually Cao Jinxuan. His Time Elapsing Clock was an extremely rare control-type Tool Soul that had the ability to control time. Cao Jinxuan had contributed the most during their arduous journey to the top four. As an outstanding control-type soul master himself, Cao Jinxuan had a much greater understanding towards the similarly control-type Huo Yuhao.
During their match that time, he’d instantly been knocked unconscious without even being able to use a soul skill. Many people had assumed that it was the work of Wang Dong, but Cao Jinxuan was fully aware that it had been a spiritual-type attack. Even though he’d had Wang Dong’s assistance, the truth was that it had still been Huo Yuhao’s attack. More importantly, he‘d even been specifically guarding against a long-range attack like this. The time surrounding his body had been slightly distorted, which was extremely hard to see with the naked eye. Because of this, he hadn’t been afraid of long-distance single-target attacks. However, even though his Time Elapsing Clock was able to distort time, it wasn’t able to distort Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. Once Huo Yuhao’s attack had landed, Cao Jinxuan didn’t have the chance to do anything at all. This had greatly increased Cao Jinxuan’s interest towards Huo Yuhao.
Cao Jinxuan was someone who had a strong desire for knowledge. He really wanted to know how Huo Yuhao had been able to do what he’d done. After all, Huo Yuhao only had a ten year soul ring! Could his soul skill be used in two different ways? Or did his soul skill have two different effects? With its detection and attacking abilities, could that still even be considered a ten year soul ring? Only hundred thousand year soul rings could have two skills!
Because of that, even though everyone else believed that Huo Yuhao would definitely lose to Wu Feng, Cao Jinxuan had a certain amount of confidence in him. This confidence was even stronger than that of even Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao’s. Sometimes, a person’s rivals can understand them more than their teammates.
The distance between the two parties gradually decreased. Facing the motionless Huo Yuhao, Wu Feng raised her vigilance. After all, Ning Tian had been knocked unconscious during their previous match. In their post-match research, they’d felt that the best way to protect themselves would be to gather their soul power in their heads. If they protected their spiritual seas, their opponent’s attacks wouldn’t be able to overcome their defenses.
Because of that, Wu Feng didn’t bother to use any soul skills. From her point of view, Huo Yuhao had no chance of winning in a direct competition of combat power. As long as she was wary of his Spiritual Shock, everything would be fine. In reality, none of the students present—other than Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao—were aware that Huo Yuhao’s main soul skill was his Spiritual Detection.
Currently, the distance between the two had shrunk to a mere five meters. Stamping the ground with her left leg, Wu Feng shot towards Huo Yuhao like a sharp arrow that had been released from a bow.
At that moment, Huo Yuhao finally made a move. The instant Wu Feng moved, he shifted his feet. As a result, he was able to quickly sidestep to the left. At the same time, he sent a kick flying straight towards Wu Feng’s abdomen.
The instant that Wu Feng had leapt out, her arms had been raised up high, while her palms had slashed towards Huo Yuhao’s shoulders. By relying on his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao had grasped the trajectory of her movements perfectly. Because of this, Huo Yuhao had sidestepped her attack the very moment she’d begun moving. At the same time, he’d sent a kick flying towards an area that was very hard for Wu Feng to defend against.
Even though she was extremely confident in herself, it was extremely uncomfortable for Wu Feng to deal with Huo Yuhao’s attack. However, she wasn’t willing to get kicked by Huo Yuhao. Helpless, she could only twist her body in midair in an attempt to dodge Huo Yuhao’s kick. However, the fact that she was in a leaping position couldn’t be changed.
Unexpectedly, Huo Yuhao suddenly stopped his kick in midair, then jumped forward using his left leg. After jumping half a meter off the ground, he changed his right leg’s sweeping kick into a regular kick. This allowed him to perfectly kick Wu Feng’s slightly defined and perky round buttocks.
One’s buttocks practically represent a person’s center of gravity. If someone’s buttocks were to be kicked midair, their balance would immediately be broken. Just as Wu Feng twisted her body to the side, she felt a large amount of force transmitted through her buttocks. She immediately let out an alarmed cry when this happened, and used her left hand to push against the ground in an effort to seize an opportunity to control her own body.
After kicking Wu Feng’s butt, Huo Yuhao immediately used a follow-up move. Landing his right foot on the ground, he suddenly rushed towards Wu Feng. Up to this point, his eyes had remained shut. However, his perception of the outside world was far clearer than it would’ve been if he’d been using his eyes.
As Wu Feng pressed her left hand onto the ground, the speed of her fall decreased slightly. However, Huo Yuhao arrived at that point again. Stamping his right foot on the ground, he rushed forwards and used his left leg to strike Wu Feng’s slender waist.
Naturally, Wu Feng wouldn’t just let him have his way with her. She hurriedly raised her left knee and angled it towards Huo Yuhao’s left leg. At the same time, she exerted some strength with her left arm, borrowing the strength of her physique to forcefully turn around and send a vicious kick towards Huo Yuhao with her left leg.
As a result of the embarrassment she was feeling, Wu Feng had put all of her strength into this kick. Even though she hadn’t used a soul skill, the all-out kick of a Soul Grandmaster that was using her martial soul couldn’t be underestimated.
However, Wu Feng made another miscalculation. Huo Yuhao suddenly pulled his left leg back mid-kick, then went down into a squat, allowing him to dodge Wu Feng’s kick. Immediately afterwards, he nimbly shot forwards and firmly slapped Wu Feng’s lower back with his palms.